Judith S. Goodrich
I teach exploratory American History in three distinct classrooms of 8th grade students. One classroom is grouped by math abilities so that the students will be ready for Algebra 2 classes when entering high school next year. The other two classrooms are more heterogeneously grouped and include a number of students who are identified as ‘inclusion’ students -- now participating in regular education classes as part of their IEP (individualized education plans). The class sizes are large (usually 25 to 27 students) and the classroom itself seems crowded when we sit in groups around the tables. The room is organized so that students work cooperatively most of the time, and 8 computers are always available with Internet connections. When the unit is implemented in my classroom next year, we will be piloting a Toshiba laptop lab in this same classroom -- and every student will have a laptop to use in class everyday. The unit will be designed with this integration of technology in mind.
Every year we begin our study of history by exploring the theories behind the population growth of the North American continent -- including a discussion of the possibility of indigenous cultures. We move through a study of the regions of Native American settlement (including cultures following a nomadic life) and arrive at the Age of Exploration and the onset of Western Europeans arriving in the western hemisphere. An exploratory history course moves quickly -- the rationale is to expose the students to names and places, chronologies and vocabularies, themes and ideas that will provide a background for their high school curriculum. Students in New Haven will study two years of United States history as sophomores and juniors -- 8- 8th grade American history touches on turning points and key events in American History. Increasingly, 8th Grade American History classes also have stressed writing skills and the connection of historical events with present circumstances. Students are expected to defend a critical stance on a given issue using supporting evidence. The New Haven Social Studies curriculum guide states that
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The overarching goal of social studies is to develop thoughtful, responsible, and active citizens who are able to acquire the requisite information to consider multiple perspectives and to make reasoned judgments. The Social Studies K to 12 curriculums provides students with opportunities to critically reflect upon events and issues in order to examine the present, make connections with the past, and consider the future.1
To help students learn to think critically and understand the complexity of historical developments, I have developed this unit combining an abstract notion of progress with a concrete body of evidence. The unit
Exploring the effects of the heat engine on the Growth of Cities
focuses on how the industrial revolution -- specifically through the introduction of heat engines into the local setting -- affected selected cities around America in the 1919th and early 20th centuries. In the unit, approximately eighty students will explore the impact that mechanical innovation and advancements in technology have had on the shaping of American society. Students will connect the harnessing of energy (water, steam, combustion and electricity) to the notion of progress and its good and ill effects on the environment and on patterns of urban development in American history. Students will answer an essential question about progress, using evidence from their study of a particular city and a particular heat engine application within that city to support their point of view. The essential question will be framed as:
Is the history of the growth of a city a history of progress?
In the unit, the students will focus on one aspect of change in the growth of a city during the Industrial Revolution to lead them to a detailed response. Students will review their 6th grade science curriculum when we discuss the meaning of work, energy, heat, and engines; they will have the opportunity to make their own steam powered engine (a putt-putt boat); students will think about how heat engines fueled by steam, gas, and coal were used to change the urban environment; and finally students will research, digest and react to their gathered information to write essays to demonstrate what they are thinking and what they have learned.
